Paul Kipng'etich Tanui (born 22 December 1990) is a Kenyan long-distance runner. He won the 2010 Kenyan cross country title and went on to take the silver medal at the 2011 IAAF World Cross Country Championships. He represented Kenya over

10,000 metres The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-metre run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, and is common at championship level events. The ra ...

at the

2011 World Championships in Athletics The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011. The United States topped the medal standings in th ...

and took ninth place. He also competed in the 2013 Moscow World Championships and took the bronze medal in the same event. In 2016, he won the silver medal in the men's 10,000m at the 2016 Olympics. He has a personal best of 26:49.41 minutes for that event.

Career

Hailing from

Nakuru Nakuru is a city in the Rift Valley region of Kenya. It is the capital of Nakuru County, and was formerly the capital of Rift Valley Province. As of 2019, Nakuru had an urban and rural population of 570,674 inhabitants, making it the largest ...

, Kenya, Paul began competing in major domestic cross country races in the 2007–2008 season: in two of the junior races at the KCB/Athletics Kenya Cross Country meetings he made the top eight, and he went on to finish in sixth in the junior race at the

Kenya National Cross Country Championships The Kenyan Cross Country Championships is an annual cross country running competition that serves as the national championship for Kenya. It is organised by Athletics Kenya and has permit race status from the International Association of Athletics ...

in 2008. He competed on the track at the provincial level in June and ran a time of 14:19.76 for second place in the 5000 metres behind Evans Mayoyo. Tanui improved further the following season, finishing fourth in the junior race in

Meru Meru may refer to: Geography Kenya * Meru, Kenya, a city in Meru County, Kenya ** Meru County, created by the merger of *** Meru Central District *** Meru North District *** Meru South District * Meru National Park, a Kenyan wildlife park T ...

, winning at the Nyanza South Provincial Championships, then taking second place in the junior race at the 2009 Kenya Championships, behind John Kemboi. This gave him automatic selection for the Kenyan team at the

2009 IAAF World Cross Country Championships 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...

. He came close to making the podium but ended up in fourth despite recording the same time as bronze medallist

Moses Kibet Moses Kibet (born 23 March 1991) is a Ugandan middle- and long-distance runner. He represented his country at the 2009, 2011, and 2015 World Championships. International competitions Personal bests Outdoor *1500 metres – 3:43.75 (Nijmegen ...

. Despite not reaching the top three, he managed to help the Kenyan junior men to the team gold that year. After moving to

Fukuoka is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since anc ...

, Japan in mid-2009 to improve his running, the 2010 season proved to be another step up for Tanui.Makori, Elias (20 February 2010)
Tanui emerges while Masai pounces as Kenya selects squad for Bydgoszcz
IAAF. Retrieved on 31 March 2010. At the beginning of the year he took part in the New Year Ekiden for the Kyudenko Corporation, where he ran the fastest in his stage. Competing in the men's senior race at the Kenya Championships for the first time, Tanui surprised his competitors with a significant victory. He defeated a number of established runners to win the men's title by a margin of over thirty seconds. With former champions

Kenenisa Bekele Kenenisa Bekele ( om, Qananiisaa baqqalaa; am, ቀነኒሳ በቀለ; born 13 June 1982) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner. He was the world record holder in both the 5000-metre and 10000-metre from 2004 (5,000m) and 2005 (10,000m) unti ...

and

Zersenay Tadese Zersenay Tadese (Tigrinya: ዘርእሰናይ ታደሰ; born 8 February 1982) is an Eritrean long-distance track and road running athlete. He held the men's half marathon world record from 2010 to 2018. His bronze medal in the 10,000 metres ...

not competing at the

2010 IAAF World Cross Country Championships The 2010 IAAF World Cross Country Championships were held at Myślęcinek Park in Bydgoszcz, Poland on 28 March 2010. It was the first time in over twenty years that Poland hosted the annual championships, having previously held them in Warsaw in ...

, Tanui was suggested as a tentative favourite for the competition. He failed to carry over his strong domestic form to the world stage, but the 19-year-old still managed to reach the top ten in his first attempt at the senior level, finishing eighth and helping Kenya to the team gold. Seventh place at the 2011 Kenyan trials meant that he was not selected for the world event, but a dispute between

Leonard Komon Leonard Patrick Komon (born 10 January 1988) is a Kenyan professional long-distance runner and was the List of world records in athletics, world record holder in the 10 kilometres. His 10K world record in 2010 with a time of 26:44 is a 17 seco ...

and

Athletics Kenya Athletics Kenya (AK) is the governing body for the sport of athletics (track and field) in Kenya. It is a member of World Athletics and Confederation of African Athletics. AK organises athletics competitions held in Kenya. It also sends Kenyan tea ...

saw Tanui drafted in as a late replacement. He went on to finish the 2011 IAAF World Cross Country Championships as his nation's best performer by taking the silver medal, two seconds behind race winner

Imane Merga Imane Merga Jida (ኢማነ መርጋ ጂዳ) (born 15 October 1988) is an Ethiopian professional long-distance runner who specializes in the 5000 and 10,000 metres. He won his first world title at the 2011 IAAF World Cross Country Championships ...

. Tanui also led the Kenyans to the team gold medal. A third-place finish at the Trofeo Alàsport meet behind Merga and

Caleb Ndiku Caleb Mwangangi Ndiku (born 9 October 1992 in Machakos) is a Kenyan middle- and long-distance runner. Career Born in Machakos, he was the son of a javelin thrower, David Ndiku, but he decided not to follow his father and focused on running ins ...

brought his cross country season to a close. He ran a series of track bests that year starting with

run of 26:50.63 minutes for fourth place at the

Prefontaine Classic The Prefontaine Classic, an Oregon Track Club event, is one of the premier track and field meets in the United States, held in Eugene, Oregon. Every year it draws a world caliber field to compete at Hayward Field on the campus of the University ...

, a time of 13:04.65 min for the 5000 m in Barcelona and then 3000 metres best of 7:50.88 min in

Arzana Arzana (; sc, Àrtzana) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Nuoro in the Italian region Sardinia, located about northeast of Cagliari and about west of Tortolì. Arzana borders the following municipalities: Aritzo, Desulo, El ...

. As one of the fastest Kenyans over 10,000 m that year, he was chosen to compete in that event at the

. However, he ran a minute slower than his season's best in the event final and finished ninth overall.Paul Tanui
IAAF. Retrieved on 22 January 2012. At the beginning of 2012, he beat Geoffrey Kipsang in a sprint finish to win the men's race at the Cross Internacional Juan Muguerza and was runner-up at the Trofeo Alasport.Sampaolo, Diego (26 March 2012)
Kipkoech and Jepleting take close victories in Sardinia XC
IAAF. Retrieved on 26 March 2012.

Personal bests

*All information taken from IAAF profile.

Competition record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tanui, Paul Kipngetich 1990 births Living people Kenyan male long-distance runners People from Rift Valley Province World Athletics Championships athletes for Kenya World Athletics Championships medalists Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Kenya Olympic silver medalists for Kenya Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Kenyan male cross country runners People from Nakuru Sportspeople from Rift Valley Province Athletes (track and field) at the 2019 African Games African Games competitors for Kenya